Aggressive New COVID Strain Has Spread To 28 States; Florida, California Have The Most Variant Cases

Press release from the Florida Phoenix:

By Diane Rado

January 27, 2021

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Wednesday evening reported 315 cases of the troubling COVID-19 strain that is potentially more lethal, with Florida and California showing the highest number of variant cases in the nation.

Both of those states show 92 cases of the variant called B.1.1.7, which emerged from the United Kingdom. (The cases identified are based on a sampling of specimens and do not represent the total number of B.1.1.7 cases across the nation, according to the CDC.)

As of Monday, 24 states had identified infections with the new COVID-19 variant, totaling 293 cases. But by Wednesday evening, the figures increased to 28 states and 315 cases.

Four new states were added to the list: Arkansas, Kentucky, Nevada, and Virginia.

Following Florida and California, New York (with 22 cases), Michigan (17), Georgia (14), Colorado (9) and Illinois (9) have the next highest number of variant cases.

The variant is of concern because it is considered more transmissible and potentially more lethal.

Cases are expected to continue to climb, as federal health officials earlier warned of the new COVID-19 variant potentially becoming the dominant strain by March.

The first variant case in Florida was identified on Dec. 31, 2020, involving a man in his 20s in Martin County, north of Palm Beach County. The Florida Department of Health tweeted the information that evening. Lawmakers and local health officials also held a press conference on Jan. 2 in Martin County.

But since then, state officials haven’t shared information to the public, in the way of press conferences, news releases or Twitter and Facebook posts.

You can look at the CDC data on variants here.

This story was originally published by the Florida Phoenix. For more stories from the Florida Phoenix, visit FloridaPhoenix.com.